Galway’s arts scene lost one of its most colourful personalities last week with the sudden death of Connor Maguire, my erstwhile comedy sidekick and long-time friend. As Maguire & McBride, or in tandem with Eamonn and Fiona Kelly in The Comedy Cumann, we regaled audiences at Cúirt, the Galway Arts Festival and other occasions and locations for many years.

THE STRUCTURE of Gerald Dawe’s memoir The Stoic Man, recently published by the Lagan Press, follows much the same general outline of his Selected Poems, published in 2012, and could easily be subtitled A Tale of Three Cities, beginning in the troubled city of Belfast, continuing on to the cultural melting pot that was Galway during the 1970s and 1980s, before moving on the comfortable avenues of Dún Laoghaire and the ivory towers of Trinity College.

A new event in the Athlone calendar is set to take place later this year - The Far Side Festival. Described as a boutique festival celebrating culture, creativity, and community in Athlone, it takes its name from the well-known local term for the Connacht side of the town.

MARY COUGHLAN, Luka Bloom, and Liam Ó Maonlaí are among the singers and musicians who will take to the stage of the Dolphin Hotel over the coming weeks as part of the annual Inishbofin Concerts series.

Once upon a time, when a renowned bardic poet visited the castle a sort of hysteria broke out. Women ran to the kitchens to prepare hogs and stuffings for a great feast. Banners and flags were flown from the battlements. Musicians urgently practiced new songs in his praise. Tavern keepers rolled in their best barrels of beer and wine, and weapons were nosily discarded. All prisoners and lunatics were released. Fathers were invited to bring to the fore their young daughters, so that they may be admired!

These are eventful times for Australian-Irish poet Robyn Rowland. Not only has she published two new collections of verse, but, after more than three decades in which she has spent half of each year in Connemara, she has also received Irish citizenship.